


Conservation Status

by Stratagem



Series: Lion Cub [15]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Family Fluff, Gen, Post-Series, Shallura Kid - Freeform, shallura future family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 03:07:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12123192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stratagem/pseuds/Stratagem
Summary: "Coran?""Yes, my little juniberry blossom?""We're an endangered species, aren't we?"





	Conservation Status

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own VLD!
> 
> A/N: I don't know where this idea came from, except I think it would feel a little lonely sometimes to be an Altean. It's pretty short... Emi is eight years old here.

"Coran?"

"Yes, my little juniberry blossom?"

"We're an endangered species, aren't we?"

The royal advisor/mechanic/ex-fashion pirate turned around so fast he almost created a breeze. Coran had been working on some old wiring in the wall of the holodeck, but fixing it left his mind entirely as he focused on the little girl sitting nearby.

Emi was perched on the edge of the main photoemitter, holding on tight to one of her lion plushies, the blue one this time. She had been quiet the whole time she had been keeping him company, but he hadn't thought she was waiting to spring something like that on him.

"That's…did someone tell you that?" he asked as he walked over to her. He had seen some of the articles that humans and other people wrote about Alteans, and the fact that there were only three of them left was often a point that was brought up. Sometimes Earth scientists and researchers wrote articles that were frankly insulting in their suggestions of ways to increase the Altean population.

Allura, Shiro, and Coran were always very honest with Emi about how few Alteans there really were, but it seemed to have finally sunk in.

Emi shrugged, not lifting her eyes from her toy. She played with the blue stuffed lion's tail, squeezing it between her fingers. A long time ago, that plushie had been left too close to a campfire and had gotten its tail singed so it was missing the puff on the end that the other ones still had. To make it "feel" better, Emi usually kept a bandage wrapped around the end of its tail.

Coran narrowed his eyes at her searchingly and then sat down beside her, staying quiet in hopes that she would start talking on her own.

It took her a long moment, but finally she stood up, taking a step away from him. "We were talking about endangered species in class today," she said, "Like tigers on Earth and zesillan on Deui."

"Did that upset you?" Coran asked.

"No…" she said, her ponytail swinging back and forth as she shook her head. "But after school me and Tryll and Evad were chatting, and Tryll said that Alteans would actually get the extinct in the wild status. I don't think he meant it as something bad but—" Emi turned back toward him, her eyes flicking up from her lion to finally meet Coran's gaze. Tears were starting to gather, and she sniffled, rubbing a knuckle under her right eye. "But we're just endangered, right? We're not extinct. There's me and you and mum, and we're sort of in the wild."

Coran's chest tightened as he rushed forward and gathered her into his arms. "We are _not_ extinct." Not while there were three of them left. Coran's thoughts wandered to all the faces that were gone, the people he had known so long ago, the lives that had been lived decapheebs ago. "And besides, those terms are meant for plants and animals, not for us. So we're not even endangered."

Emi lifted her head from his shoulder, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "But there's still only three of us."

"Right," he said, reaching up to brush away some of those tears, "Which, you know, if we're having this discussion, we should call the third one." He needed some back-up in this matter. Setting her down on the photoemitter, Coran quickly contacted Allura and asked her to come to the holodeck. Also, if she could find Shiro on the way, that would be for the best.

While they waited for Allura, Emi hugged her blue lion plushie, and Coran hugged her, wishing this was easier on her. Yes, Emi was half-human and there were billions of humans, but she also had to deal with the fact that she was the only Human-Altean person in the universe. He wondered if she had really processed that just yet. There was unique and then there was 'one of a kind.' Hopefully that was a tough talk for another day.

When the holodeck door slid open and Allura stepped in with Shiro right behind her, Emi jumped up and raced over to her mom, colliding with her legs. Allura ran her hand over Emi's hair and looked at Coran, worried. "What's going on?"

"We're an endangered species but Tryll says we're extinct in the wild, but we're in the wild so we're not really extinct," Emi said in a rush, looking up at Allura. "Right?"

"I still stand by the fact that we're not animals or plants so we're not technically endangered at all," Coran said, spreading his hands.

"And why are we having this conversation?" Shiro asked. He looked highly concerned as he knelt by Emi and she dropped against him, curling into the safety of his arms. Standing up, he pressed close to Allura, as if the very idea of Alteans being extinct disturbed him on a deep level. Which, actually, it did.

Coran explained what he knew about Emi's class and the discussion afterward. Shiro's hold tightened around his daughter as she hid her face against his shoulder. Allura reached over to trace comforting circles on her back.

"I think I'll call Tryll's parents tonight," Allura said, her tone edged with razor sharp steel. "We need to have a discussion."

Emi jerked her head up. "I don't want him to get in trouble!"

"I know, sweetheart, but you want him to know he hurt your feelings, too," Allura said, "Also, he shouldn't call anyone else's species extinct."

"He said only in the wild," Emi mumbled.

Shiro nudged at her, making her peel back from his shoulder for a moment. "Space is about as wild as it gets, Nezumi-chan."

"That's what I said." The corner of her mouth twitched like she was considering a smile before she drooped against Shiro's shoulder again.

Allura reached out, and Shiro shifted, handing Emi over immediately. Allura hugged Emi before setting her down on the floor and cupping her small cheek, her thumb running over her daughter's bright pink birthmark. "There's not many of us, but we're certainly not extinct and we're not going to call ourselves endangered. We are the last Alteans, but we're _here_. That's what matters."

Emi slowly nodded, leaning into her mother's touch while Coran smiled fondly at the two of them. He doubted that made everything better or that the thought would really leave Emi's mind, but maybe that would start to quell her fear.

Yes, there were only three of them, but they were the survivors of an ancient civilization that had stood for peace, scholarship, and galactic diplomacy. Their home planet hadn't been perfect, of course it hadn't, but they could still be proud of who they were and where they came from.

There were still three Alteans in the wild.


End file.
